He’s back – once again Simon Murray’s dream to be a Dee is reality.
A former season ticket holder at Dens Park, the 32-year-old will once more be wearing the dark blue of Dundee out in front of the crowds at the old ground.
Murray returns after six years that included a life-changing move to South Africa, a long-term knee injury and starting from scratch once again in the bottom rung of the Scottish professional game.
A lot has happened since Murray spent six months on loan from Hibs in 2018.
Of late, it has been packed with goals and that is why Dundee have forked out six figures for the striker.
It’s been a long battle back since his cruciate ligament injury, starting in League Two with Queen’s Park before moving up the divisions with the Spiders and earning a move to Ross County.
But he made it back to the big time and did so with a bang last season.
Courier Sport has taken a deep dive into Simon Murray in 2023/24 to see what Dundee are getting for the season to come.
Goals
Murray scored a goal in every two matches last season for Premiership strugglers Ross County.
Twenty-three in 46 appearances brought 14 in the league and played a major part in keeping the Staggies in the top flight.
Twenty-three was his best overall tally since his first season in the SPFL back in 2014/15 with Arbroath in League Two.
Murray has only bettered his 14 league goals from last season twice – he got 15 at Queen’s Park and 19 for Arbroath in the lower divisions.
Last term saw the striker register against seven of the 11 league opponents with only Celtic, St Johnstone, St Mirren and new team Dundee escaping his clutches.
The Dundonian finished last season as one of the most in-form players in the country with nine goals in the final 11 matches of the campaign, including a double in the play-off win over Raith Rovers that secured safety.
Impact
Not only have Dundee pinched Ross County’s top goalscorer from last season but also the man at the top of their assists chart.
Murray laid on five goals for his team-mates alongside Yan Dhanda with the same total.
His impact on the Ross County team can’t be underestimated.
The Staggies would finish 11th of 12 in the Premiership with the seventh top scorer in the division – Murray’s 14 league goals was the same as Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi, despite having played one game fewer.
Murray’s goals were 37% of Ross County’s entire total across the campaign.
Of the players in the division who played more than 2,000 minutes, only Lawrence Shankland, Cyriel Dessers, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi contributed more to their team’s attacks.
Of the total list, the only players ahead of Murray on Opta’s ‘Attack Contribution’ metric that don’t play for Rangers or Celtic were Shankland, Myziane Maolida of Hibs and St Johnstone striker Adama Sidibeh.
Dundee goals
In comparison, Dundee’s top scorer was Luke McCowan with an impressive 10 from midfield.
A more remarkable stat comes if you add the goal tallies of all seven strikers for the Dark Blues across the 2023/24 campaign.
The total is 22 goals. Murray got 23.
Simon Murray on his own scored more goals than Amadou Bakayoko, Zach Robinson, Michael Mellon, Curtis Main, Scott Tiffoney, Zak Rudden and Diego Pineda put together.
Tony Docherty has got himself a proven Premiership goalscorer.
The question is now – how many can he get in the dark blue of Dundee?
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